EHA YEARBOOK 2009
6
Environmental Health Australia
Branch Presidents
Virgil Kelk FEHA
Virgil commenced work with the
Queensland Department of Health as a
cadet health inspector in January 1971 .
He has worked with Queensland Health
since that time and holds the position
of Director of Environmental Health
for the Darling Downs Population
Health Unit based in Toowoomba.
Virgil has responsibility for a wide
range of environmental health issues
including drugs and poisons, foods,
tobacco, communicable diseases and
environmental toxicology. While based
in Toowoomba, Virgil has responsibility
for a mostly rural and remote region
that is more than half the size of
New South Wales or twice the size of
Victoria.
Virgil has a significant interest in
food safety, water quality and disaster
management. He has been involved
in the delivery of the EHA Disaster
Management for Public Health Course
since its inception in 19 9 7 and was
awarded an Excellence Award by EHA
(Queensland Branch) for his work in
disaster management in 2005. Virgil
became a Fellow of EHA in 2002 and
has been Branch President for almost
four years.
Queensland Branch
President
NSW/ACT Branch
President
Shannon McKiernan MEHA
Shannon McKiernan has held
the position of Coordinator of
Environmental Health Practitioners
within Gosford City Council since
2006. He has a Bachelor of Science
in Australian Environmental Studies
from Griffith University, Queensland,
and a Bachelor of Health Science
– Environmental Health from the
Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane. Shannon joined EHA as
a student member in 19 98 and has
continued to be actively involved.
Shannon has held a range of positions
at Local Government level including
responsibility for conducting projects
such as Brisbane City Council’s Healthy
Brisbane Strategy and Gold Coast City
Council’s Community Health Plan.
He has also worked extensively with
State Government in Queensland,
most notably his involvement in the
implementation of a Health and Social
Impact Assessment for the South East
Queensland Regional Plan with the
Statewide Health Services Planning Unit
of Queensland Health.
Shannon has also lectured in the area
of social planning for the School of
Social Sciences at the University of
Queensland prior to moving to Gosford
City Council.
Executive Committee
Jim Smith (Chair)
Joseph Zappavigna
Fleur Cousins
Stephen Davidson
Audit Committee
Stephen Davidson (Chair)
Nancy Cromar
Eric Johnson
Joseph Zappavigna
Workforce and
Professional
Development &
Certification Committee
Jim Smith (Chair)
Nancy Cromar
Thomas Tenkate
Eric Johnson
Bruce Morton
Environmental Health
Course Accreditation
Sub-Committee
Jim Smith (Chair)
Bruce Morton
Ron Fry
Owen Ashby
Waikay Lau
Thomas Tenkate
Nancy Cromar
Human Resource
Working Group
Fleur Cousins (Chair)
Jim Smith
Joseph Zappavigna
Mark Dwyer
Bernadet Ferraro